Have Not Seen a Bloom in WEEKS...

[seandelevan]

I've looked in the archives for this problem. I've had these hardy water lilies for years now. Even took them with me when I moved and kept in "storage" for a year while I dug my new pond. Anyway I have about 4 rhizomes in a 3 foot by 1 foot shallow square container about 20" deep. In early spring I had a ton of blooms, most I've had ever. Then as time went on they bloomed less and less to where I haven't seen one in about 3 weeks. Lily pad growth is booming though. I put fertilizer tabs(first time I ever done this) about 3 weeks ago. They get full sun from 10am to sunset. Is this too much? When researching this problem that seemed to be the problem...not enough sun. Trust me this pond gets blasted with unfiltered full sun for almost 10 hours a day. Had these plants for 8 years and I never had this happen. What gives????

 

[seandelevan]

Here's a pic from late May.....you can see there are 5 blooms. Then it was 4...3...then 2...then for a few days only one....and now it's been none and have been none for almost 3 weeks now.

 

[Lisak1]

Are they too tight in the pot? They may need dividing. They like a steady diet of fertilizer to bloom and lots of room to spread out in the pot. If they get too overgrown it's impossible to get any fertilizer tabs or sticks in the pot.

 

[seandelevan]

Are they too tight in the pot? They may need dividing. They like a steady diet of fertilizer to bloom and lots of room to spread out in the pot. If they get too overgrown it's impossible to get any fertilizer tabs or sticks in the pot.

Is it OK to do this right now? Or do I have to wait until fall or next spring?

 

[Lisak1]

You can do it any time. They're resilient. I learned how to divide my lilies by watching a YouTube video that a commercial lily grower posted and they were dividing BIG fully grown plants with blooms and all. Taught me to be fearless with mine!

 

[seandelevan]

Thanks! Will do!

 

[addy1]

Pull out chop re-plant share with friends.......................nothing really kills them except putting the growing tip under the soil

 

[seandelevan]

Update. You guys were right. Divided them up yesterday. What started out as 4 last year(maybe two years ago) are now 12! And already this morning a new bloom is rising!

 

[Lisak1]

And already this morning a new bloom is rising!

Boom! Give them room and they will bloom!

 

[mrsclem]

When I divided mine this spring I had several that I was not sure as to variety. I tagged them as unknown and kept them in stock tanks. To my surprise, I had a Pompom bloom today in a tank so labeled it and moved it to a pond. Unfortunately, the bloom was below water level so was immediately devoured!

 

[mrsclem]

Pompom lily

 

[addy1]

Pompom lilyView attachment 112755

That is one pretty lily!

 

[mrsclem]

I was afraid when I put it in and the flower was below water that
it wouldn't survive. there is another bud coming up.

 

[Bluerooster]

I've got 3 lilies planted about a week apart. One is producing it's second bloom, the other two have yet to even act like they are thinking about blooming. I don't remember the varieties. But IIRC the only difference in the names was the color.

 

[Lisak1]

Are you asking if there's something wrong about that scenario? Because in my experience bloom time, how long the blooms last, how prolific the blooms - all are specific to the type of lily.